Fated and Mated - Love at First Site

by Harmony Raines

  Oh no, he shouldn’t think like that, it might leave him unable to perform; too much stress could do that to a man. And if his brothers found out they would tease him terribly. But then Cassie leaned over and her hand touched his thigh, and he immediately hardened. His pants stretched across his cock.

  “Are you OK to drive?” she asked, her voice breathy.

  “Yes.” He drove out on to the road and headed toward his apartment, the twenty-minute drive the longest in his life. “I’m still getting used to this … us.”

  “Well, we have our whole lives to get used to it, and anyway, I’m kind of glad it feels awkward. I mean, it’s nice knowing that we are going to be together, and that I’m not going to wake up one day to a phone call or a text telling me you’ve dumped me, but I like a little excitement—isn’t that what falling in love is all about?”

  “I think I’ve already fallen,” he said, feeling like a real sap.

  She laughed. “You haven’t seen me in the morning, or had to listen to me whining.”

  “That’s part of the package, and I’ll take the rough with the smooth.” And right now he’d like to be very rough, his thoughts consumed with how he’d like to pull the car over and take her on the hood of his car, or in the backseat, with her on all fours.

  She smiled and looked out of the window. “I’ll remind you of that when I’m fifty and you’re a henpecked husband.”

  “I look forward to knowing you when we are old and grey, and our kids are all grown up. Because even then I’ll still want you.”

  She blushed. He could see the rise of color in her cheeks as they entered the city, and he took a right turn, heading to his apartment, hoping the neighbors had their TVs on loud, so they wouldn’t hear him roaring out her name as he came inside her.

  “Here we are,” he said, when he had parked the car under his building. He got out, went around to her side, and opened her door, offering her his hand. She took it, their eyes meeting as a flash of recognition ignited between them, and they headed toward the elevator, pressing the button to call it down.

  “How long have you lived here?” she asked, looking around.

  “I’ve lived here for five years now. I like it, it’s central for work.”

  “Is that why you left Bear Bluff?” she asked.

  He thought about it for a moment. All of his family still lived in the small town where he grew up, but he had felt as if he had outgrown it when he got a job in the city. “When you come from a big family, you sometimes feel as if that’s where you begin and end. I wanted to find out who I was, what made me tick.”

  “And you like it here?” she asked, as they got in and he pressed the button to take them up to his floor.

  “I do.” He cocked his head and looked at her, wondering why she was asking, and then he realized he knew nothing about her, or her life before they met. “And you? You haven’t always lived in Bear Bluff, have you? I can’t believe we’ve never met if you have.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “My family come from the north, where the mountain ranges are much higher. My father is a ranger, my brothers too, and I wanted something different.”

  “So you studied to be a web designer.”

  “Yes, and then moved to Bear Bluff, which is where Rhianna’s family lived years ago; she has an uncle here.” She laughed. “For me, Bear Bluff is like a busy metropolis compared to where I was brought up. While for you, it’s a backwater town.”

  “So the city doesn’t appeal to you?” The elevator doors pinged open, and he took her hand, leading her down a corridor and then to the door of his apartment.

  “Not really, but you appeal to me, Logan, and wherever you are, that is where I belong.”

  He held her tight in his arms and kissed her. She threaded her hands around his neck and kissed him back. Somehow he got the key out of his pocket and into the lock. When he opened the door, they spilled into his apartment.

  He made straight for the bedroom. The grand tour could wait until after he had claimed his mate.

  Chapter Eleven – Cassie

  She had taken ages deciding on her outfit for tonight, but it was gone in seconds as Logan stripped her bare. His hands and his mouth seemed to be everywhere, worshipping her body as he kissed her and stroked her skin.

  In return she fumbled with his buttons, getting in a knot with his belt, but finally managed to strip his clothes off him and gaze at his wonderful body.

  “Not bad for a city boy,” she said, stroking her fingertips along his washboard stomach, her nails grazing it just enough to make him tense. “I always pictured myself with an outdoor bear. Rugged, and tough.”

  He picked her up, her legs going around his waist as he moved back toward the bed. “I’ll show you rugged, and rough,” he ground out, before lowering his head and capturing her mouth.

  They landed on the bed, and he hovered over her body. She thought he was going to enter her then, but instead, he kissed her neck, and then down lower, his mouth capturing her nipples, sucking them and licking them while she writhed beneath him. She was so wet, her sex dripping with need, but he didn’t enter her, instead, he continued his downward exploration, until his breath caressed her clit.

  The first flick of his tongue over her sensitive bud caused stars to explode in the mind. She gripped the sheets and held her breath, waiting in anticipation for his next move, and when it came, she raised her knees, offering herself to him.

  In and out, he probed her heated sex with his tongue, pushing deep and then flicking his tongue back over her clit. In a steady rhythm he kept up the pressure as her orgasm rose to meet her.

  And just when she teetered on the brink, his teeth grazed her clit, and he pushed two fingers inside her, making her world explode. He sucked and licked, draining every last bit of her climax from her body, until she lay gasping for air, her mind a jumble of feelings and emotions.

  “So how does this city boy measure up now?” he asked kissing his way back up her body.

  “Oh, not so bad, I guess. Although I haven’t experienced him completely yet,” she said, teasing him, her fingers stroking his back.

  She felt him laugh, his body against hers as he continued his upward journey. Between her thighs, heat pooled once more, and she wanted him inside her, to feel him stretch her with his wonderful, hard cock.

  Logan had the same idea and he shifted his weight, resting on one elbow, and then guided himself into her. In one long, hard lunge, he filled her, leaving her gasping. Then, just as she got used to the invasion, he pulled out, only to repeat his hard thrust.

  She put her hands on his shoulders, stroking his smooth skin as he moved in and out of her, impaling her on his thick cock before pulling back out. Once more, she felt her orgasm building and his body tensed, telling her he was on the verge of coming too. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around him and spurred him on; she wanted him to come hard, to feel what she felt, to empty himself into her sex.

  Her bear roared. This was her mate, they were meant to have children together, to raise cubs, but not here, not in a concrete mountain.

  But those thoughts were pushed aside when he came, jerking hard into her, and her sex gripped him tightly, pulsing around him as she followed him over the edge into oblivion. Logan cried out, a roar of possession, and that made her orgasm harder. She was his, this was their mating, and they would be stronger now, the bond complete at last.

  Scooping her up into his arms, they lay together in his bed, and for the first time she looked around his apartment. It was a typical bachelor pad, nothing to tell her about this man; it contrasted starkly with the place she shared with Rhianna, which was filled with photographs and trinkets from their lives and travels.

  And that led her to her other worry: what would Rhianna do without her? They managed the apartment together, although Cassie couldn’t stretch to half the rent as yet. The few small jobs she had were not enough to live on, but her work was getting more recognition; and when Fated and Mated was la
unched, she was hoping it would give her some visibility, and so more work.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, his hand stroking her upper arm, sending thrills through her body. Already she was on the verge of wanting him again.

  She didn’t want to spoil the moment by talking about the practicalities of their relationship. Tonight was not for the logistics of where they were going to live and what they were going to do for the rest of their lives. Tonight was a celebration of their first union.

  “That it’s funny how things work out. If Marjorie hadn’t offered me the job of designing her website, I would never have joined and never have seen you, and never known my mate was so close.”

  “Fate,” he stated. “The website is fantastic, is that what you are going to pursue?”

  “What, apart from having your cubs?” she asked lightly.

  “Well, I like a woman who wants a career too. Surely you could work from home?” He kissed her shoulder—it was as if he couldn’t keep his hands and mouth off her, and she shivered deliciously.

  “I could, if I had the right equipment. My laptop has definitely seen better days.”

  “I could buy you what you need,” he said, and she surprised herself with her reaction.

  “No, that wouldn’t be right.”

  “Why, because you hardly know me?” he laughed. “We’re in this together, Cassie, don’t forget that. So if there is something you need, then tell me.”

  She moved away from him and sat up, her breasts covered by the sheets, but when she looked down at him, and the honesty in his face, she didn’t protest his offer; instead, she said, “Well, there is one thing.”

  “Anything.”

  She bent forward and whispered in his ear, feeling his breath quicken and his body tense. Backing away, Cassie watched the look of desire spread across his face, and smiled. “I take it that is a yes, then.”

  He sat up, pulling her close, his lips on hers. Then he guided her to sit in his lap, her legs astride him. “I want you to have whatever you need, Cassie.”

  She lifted herself up, and felt the press of his cock against her outer lips as he guided himself toward her sex. Then, closing her eyes as she moved, she let herself slip down onto his hard cock, feeling him enter her, stretch her, and fill her, very, very slowly.

  Placing her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, she allowed herself to experience every movement, every moment of friction between their bodies. Logan stroked her breasts, and then leaned forward, sucking one nipple into his mouth, his tongue rolling around it. Her hips bucked, and her sex clamped tighter around his cock, causing him to moan against her skin.

  Logan placed his hands on her hips, and lifted himself off the bed, to thrust up into her. At the same time, Cassie circled her hips, stretching her sex, while trying to keep a steady rhythm of rising up and down on his cock.

  Everything came together at once, all the emotions and sensations finally pushing her over the edge. Throwing her head back, she cried out, her voice high as her orgasm swept over her. Logan began to jab his hips up and down, burying his cock deep inside her.

  A warmth spread through her, and his seed spurted out from his cock, filling her. Slowly, her orgasm subsided, and she slowed her rhythm, but even when she stopped moving she sat with him still deep inside her, while they kissed, slowly, passionately, his tongue tasting her, stroking her lower lip, while her breathing returned to normal.

  “That was amazing,” he said, pushing her long honey-blonde hair back from her face.

  “It was, wasn’t it? As if we are made for each other.”

  “Hmm,” he murmured. “A perfect fit.”

  Later, they slipped under the covers and he held her close until they both fell asleep, Cassie listening to the sounds outside as she slowly slipped into a dream where she was pushing their baby in a stroller, when all of a sudden he sneezed and turned into a bear cub.

  She looked up into the startled faces of passersby, having no explanation for why she had a baby bear with her. And even though she knew that would never happen, because children weren’t able to shift until they hit puberty, it still convinced her the city was no place for a child.

  But would Logan ever see it that way? Could she ever convince him to move back to Bear Bluff?

  Chapter Twelve – Logan

  “I thought I’d go and buy us some breakfast. There’s a lovely bakery around the corner that has some amazing fresh pastries every morning.”

  “So that’s why you like living in the city,” she said, rolling over and watching him pull on his clothes.

  He looked back at her. “It might be one of the reasons.”

  “I’ll come with you.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up, heading to the bathroom.

  “No, really, stay there. I want to come back and find you in bed waiting for me.” He came over to her and kissed her. “Because right after we’ve eaten, I plan to take advantage of you again.”

  “Do you?” She kissed him. “I like the sound of that.”

  Logan was just thinking he might put off breakfast and take Cassie back to bed when his phone rang. He broke their kiss, looking over to where it lay beside the bed, buzzing insistently, but then he took her in his arms once more. “They can wait.”

  “What if it’s about Melanie and the baby?” she asked.

  “You’re right.” He broke away from her and went to pick up his phone. “It’s work.”

  “You should answer it while I go to the bathroom.”

  “Are you sure?” He felt uneasy because there was no reason his boss would call him on a Saturday unless it was an emergency. And if it was an emergency, he would probably be expected to go in. “Hello.”

  “Logan, hello, I hope you aren’t busy, but the client who you were preparing the presentation for has to go back to China tomorrow, so your presentation has been brought forward to today. I know you said you were prepared; I hope that was true.”

  “Yes, the presentation is ready, but I’m kind of busy.” He thought of Cassie, and how he would hate to leave her now to go into work. It wasn’t unusual for him to go in on a Saturday, but did it have to be this Saturday?

  “Well, this should take priority over everything. You know I have you in mind to be a partner in three years’ time. So whatever you decide, I’d like you to bear that in mind.”

  Why did it feel as if he were being blackmailed in some way?

  “I realize that, sir.” Although he was listening, inside his head, his bear was causing a distraction: did they really want to abandon their mate and go into the office?”

  “So I’ll see you in an hour.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement of fact.

  “An hour.” Logan ended the call, and stood wondering what he should do? An hour only gave him enough time to shower and dress, and then gather his things up and get to the office, which was a ten-minute walk.

  “Everything OK?” Cassie asked, coming out of the bathroom looking luscious, and his bear moaned plaintively. This was where they belonged. With their mate.

  “It was my boss; the presentation I have been working on has been moved forward.”

  “Is that good?” she asked, and then looked at him properly, and he could see she read his expression.

  “I’ll be gone for a couple of hours, three at the most.” He hated this, hated the look of disappointment that crossed her face but was ironed out so quickly it was as if it had never been there.

  “Sure. Look, you go. This must be important if your boss has called you in on a Saturday, or is that normal?” She smiled but her eyes showed him her true feelings, and his heart ached; he wanted to stay here, but his job was important, more now that he could have a family to support. He wanted to be a provider so that Cassie and his cubs wouldn’t want for anything.

  “When I get back we’ll go for lunch. Help yourself to anything you need.” He headed for the shower, giving her a swift kiss on the forehead, as he began to mentally prepare what he h
ad to say to the investors. This was big for his career; the last few months he had been gearing up to this kind of proposal, and he knew his boss was not lying when he said that Logan could very well be looking at a partnership offer in three years’ time.

  When he came back out, she was dressed, which disappointed him no end, and was in the kitchen making coffee. “Do you have time for a cup?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll grab something on the way.”

  “Maybe I could walk with you?” she asked.

  “No, stay here, I’d worry about you getting lost or something.” He came to her, kissed her again, and then grabbed his laptop and keys, shouting, “See you later” as he left.

  Down the stairs, out onto the street, he ran across the road, and then walked quickly to the building where he spent so much of his life. He took the elevator to the fifteenth floor, and by the time he stepped out, he was in professional mode, although his bear nagged at his brain, telling him they shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t have left Cassie alone.

  “Ah, Logan, so glad you made it. Mr. Zhou has been delayed, he will be another hour, but if you want to set up in the conference room, it’s ready.” His boss, billionaire David Hargreaves, led the way. “I knew I could count on you. Being single has its perks.”

  “I’m not single anymore,” Logan said, quickly, and then wondered if he should have. David turned to look at him, his expression masked.

  “Really? Is it serious?”

  “Very,” Logan said, placing his laptop down on the table, and setting it to link with the display on the wall.

  “Interesting.” David sat down, studying Logan.

  Logan turned around, and in that instant, he knew that his bear wasn’t the only one who was thinking there was a choice to be made here. David Hargreaves had never been married, didn’t know what it was like to have a woman waiting for him at home. But then neither did Logan until now.

  As he made sure the program was going to run smoothly, he thought of Melanie at home alone last night, waiting for Taylor to come home, and he pictured Cassie sitting all alone in his apartment while he worked long hours in the office.